The world of mature dating has been transformed in recent years as a result of the Internet. What was once a frustrating and potentially embarrassing endeavor is now just a simple matter of simple pointing and clicking. Well, there's a little more to it than that but it's still a breeze compared to the old days. Here's why online mature dating is the only way to go.

Just think a mere 20 years ago, if you were looking for a date, your options were trawling pubs and clubs in the vain hope of finding someone compatible or putting yourself in the expensive hands of a dating agency.

The pub and club scene generally involved approaching likely a candidate, desperately searching for a topic you had in common, and buying round after round of Babychams in the hope of wearing her down. Or if you're female, being hit on by drunken boors and forcing down Babychams and talking about football just to be polite.

As for the dating agencies, things weren't usually much better. Some used computers to match you up. Other more traditional operations prided themselves on the human touch - a real human being would go through all the submitted profiles and choose two soul mates based on instinct and experience.

A few lucky souls found love through these methods but most were disappointed. The main drawback of these methods was the limited talent pool. It may sound unromantic but finding Mister or Miss Right a numbers game. The more potential partners you can be matched with, the better the chance of finding that special person who's right for you.

After all if you're a Chelsea supporter who lives in Luton and loves the music of Bartok, the chances of you finding a person of the right age and gender with similar tastes among the 60 or so people in a pub are decidedly slender. And even in the heftier talent pool of a major dating agency, the odds are against you.

There's also the fact that now you're in your fifties, you probably feel a bit apprehensive, not to mention silly, about cruising pubs and clubs looking to score. In fact you probably find words like 'cruising' and 'score' rather silly themselves, to say the least. The fact is that pubbing and clubbing demands stamina, not to mention a vigorous liver. Face it, it's a young people's game, and anyway you don't need it.

There's a much simpler, surer and more pleasant way to do things. Thanks to the Internet, mature dating is now a snap.

The Internet has transformed our lives in many ways. You can communicate without having to drag yourself down to the post office and buy a stamp. You can do your banking without having to queue up for hours. You can sell your unwanted items and order books which will arrive in a day or two. It's hard to imagine life without it.

But for our purposes, the Internet's main blessing has been to allow us to view the profiles and pictures of millions of potential kindred spirits and to put our own profiles and pictures in front of millions of people who might be looking for someone just like us. This is truly magic.

You login to an online dating account, input such factors as age, taste in music, height, hair colour - the options are almost endless. Then just click and in a few seconds a list of potential paramours appears - all living in the area you specified. Just scroll through, read the profiles, gaze at the pictures and see if anyone catches your eye.

And once you think you've found that special someone, you can have a safe online relationship before deciding whether to take things further. By exchanging messages and pictures online, you can form a pretty good idea of whether your new partner is at least worth a try.

Thanks to the Internet, this is the best time ever to be a mature single. The world of mature dating is your oyster and a whole new lifestyle awaits you. Internet dating is for everyone. So whether you're just too busy to go out and meet people, you're fed up of the meat market feel of pubs and clubs, or simply despair meeting that person that's just right for you, give mature dating online a chance. It can open up a whole, rich new world and make your life complete.